Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 138

116
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1931
Hindu gode and the Muhammadan saints are moluded : for all, a large body of oocult superstition that comes to the surface in legend and folklore, and in the daily ceremonies connected with domestic and public events, and is based on the varied beliefs and practices of the aborigines, with whom the Aryans have come in contact from time to time in the course of a very long period. It is these superstitions and the rites based on them that most prominently strike the eye of the visitor from outside and thus are apt to mislead him as to the true thought, religious aspirations and mental calibre of those who practise them."
5. Kinchenjanga. "Kanchendzonga (p. 66), which means the great glacier Treasure-house of the Five Precious Substances, is the object of great worship in Sikkim, and it plays an important part in Sikkimese Buddhism. Special ceremonies and sacred danoes are held in its honour, some of them very old, dating from a long time before the introduction of Buddhism into Sikkim, and there are dark stories told that in the olden days these ceremonies were accompanied by human sacrifices made to the spirit of the mountain."
"[January 18th, 1923) at sunrise (p. 77) we saw the beautiful sight of snow falling on the top of the Kanchendzonga Range. The mountain is such an important part of the Western horison of so many parts of Sikkim that there is little wonder it is regarded as the guardian spirit of the country."
6. Demon Haunts. "We were foroed (p. 97) to camp on the broad even-surfaoed summit of the pass between Sikkim and Tibet, near the Chumiomo Peak), a formation which is peouliar, so far as is known, to this pass. The natives believed it to be inhabited by dark and terrible demons, who bring disaster upon every one who stops there."
In Burma this type of belief is spread far and wide. "The most widely spread nature oult of all is that of the forest and tree nats. All the wild tribes dread them, and the most characteristio superstitions of the people of the cultivated plains are related to them. Every prominent tree, every grove, every area of jungle, besides the forest in general has its special nat (esiktha in Burmese), often with a specialised name." (E.R.E., III, 23.)
7. Images. "The images (p. 53) inside the temple (at Gyangtse) were equally interesting. . . . . The principal image was that of the historical Buddha. . . . . Strangely enough such images are rare in Tibet, as the Tibetan prefers nowadays to worship at the shrine of some purely mythological deity, one of the so-called non-human or Dhyani Buddhas."
In Burma images of the Buddha (i.6., the Manusha Buddha of Mahayanism) are very common. See Shway Yoe, The Burman, ch. XVII. Nevertheless, as in Tibet, there are also innumerable images, set up all over the country, of the mythioal nats, which are revered by the people and have no real connection with Buddhism in any form. See Temple, The Thirty-seven Nats, passim.
As the Buddhism of Tibet is MahAy&nist the following passage from The Word of Lalla, pp. 88 f., is of interest here, as explanatory of the images of the Buddha there. In Mahayana Buddhism "there is an Adi-Buddha (original Buddha), who is an eternal self-existent being and is represented by the three corporeal bodies of Buddhaethereal, celestial, and terrestrial each in five forms derived from Buddha himself, his three acknowledged and well. known, though mytbioal, predecessors and his looked for successor. By his oontemplative power (dhyana) the Adi-Buddha created the five Dhyani Buddhas, who are unconnected with this world, and dwell in thoughtful peace in Nirvana, here & 'Heaven.' Each Dhyani Buddha has & wife and a son, a Dhyanf Bodhisattva, who, too, has never been a human being. Each Dhyani Bodhisattva has a wife and & son, & Manusha Buddha, incarnated in this world and given a wife..... Siddhartha Gautama (ShAkhya Sinha), 16., Buddha himself, as a man, was a Manusha Buddha." In Tibetan iconography are to be found images of all the above mentioned spiritual beings.